


Blink Last

by MissLouisa



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, POV Scott McCall, Sexual Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-19
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-27 02:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 13,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLouisa/pseuds/MissLouisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott's a sophomore in college, and he's just been dumped. It's not pleasant for anybody, least of all his fraternity brother and best friend, Isaac Lahey.</p><p>Still, it's time for freshmen to rush, and he doesn't expect himself to find a distraction in form of a freshman.</p><p>Who isn't even rushing. Seriously?</p><p>-</p><p>Fraternity AU!</p><p>Please see notes for background pairings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Brotherhood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/963298) by [MissLouisa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLouisa/pseuds/MissLouisa). 



> If you spot the reference to another tv show, you win a prize!
> 
> Pairings that will be included but are not the main focus: Past Scott/Allison, Boyd/Erica
> 
> For reference with ages: Scott is a sophomore, as are Lydia and Allison. Stiles, Erica, Cora, Boyd, Danny, and Jackson are all freshmen. Derek is a senior, Isaac is a junior.
> 
> Disclaimer: I am British! We have no greek system. All of this is knowledge gained from pop culture and half hearted googling.
> 
> Many thanks to my beta, Devin, and to everyone who encouraged me to continue from my little drabble.

"Allison dumped me," Scott says, from where he's laying on his bed. "She said she's got some stuff to work out, and she doesn't want me to wait for her."

Derek stares at him.

"I knocked on your door to let you know that our first rush event is on Friday," he tells Scott, who sighs dramatically.

"I love Allison," Scott tells Derek.

Isaac makes a huffy noise from where he's sat, cross-legged, on his own bed. "You only dated for 6 months, and for three of those months you were in different states," he points out.

"We had really good skype sex," Scott says.

Derek rolls his eyes. "Isaac," he says sharply. "Since Scott's preoccupied, you're in charge of organizing Friday's event. Okay?"

"What is it?" Isaac asks, swinging his legs down.

"Pizza night. Informal, get to know you type thing, mostly for legacies."

"No problem," Isaac says. 

Scott watches Derek nod, then glance at him. "Make sure Scott doesn't have a meltdown, okay?"

Isaac grins, a little meanly, Scott thinks. "I'll try my best."

"You're the worst roommate ever," Scott says, and then buries his face in his pillow. 

"Scott," Isaac says. Scott ignores him, though it's futile when Isaac comes over and sits on his legs.

"You've got class in half an hour," Isaac tells him, and Scott flips him off without looking up. 

He hears the sound of the door slamming shut, and he sits up. He actually needs to go to that class, he knows, but he and Allison are over, and that means Scott has to go through the whole thing where he meets girls again.

Plus, Scott isn't going to get laid in ages because he's bad at talking to girls. Allison liked it when he said dumb stuff, she said dumb stuff too. It all worked out in the end.

Scott feels a little stupid for hoping they'd last, and he knows that's what Isaac and Derek think of him.

He's frustrated by the time he gets to his class (two minutes late technically, but still there before the professor), but midway through he gets a text from Isaac reminding him about lacrosse practice later, and he relaxes a little. Lacrosse will give him time to work out his frustration, he's sure. 

Plus, there's a game next week and if they win, at least half of the team will get laid. It's a step in the right direction. He's not sure if he wants to move on from Allison yet, if he doesn't want to try again (he's not sure about begging her to take him back - that feels a little low for him), but he wants a distraction.

He really wants a distraction. 

Lacrosse practice suffices, though, when it comes to it. They don't have two full teams to play, so they mostly do drills, but it gets the blood pounding in Scott's veins, and every time he gets to tackle the defender, he feels a little better.

"Angry today?" Isaac smirks as they're getting changed. Scott tugs his shirt over his head.

"I've got a lot of pent up frustrations," Scott says, with a quick grin.

Isaac rolls his eyes. "You'll move on, you'll be fine."

Scott quirks his eyebrows in response. "Allison was different, though."

"You've dated loads of girls, and every time it ended up sighed about how they were different, or you thought they were different."

Scott scowls, but he has to concede the point. "I hate being single, man."

"Yeah, the whole frat knows," Isaac says. Scott hits him.

"Look," Isaac says, his voice lacking in sympathy. "I give it two weeks before you find another girl who you think is different, or special, or otherwise perfect for you."

"Allison was really good in bed, though," Scott can't help but say. 

Isaac looks at him, a little too closely, in a way that makes Scott feel like he's under a microscope. "We'll get you laid," he says, clapping his hand on Scott's bare shoulder. "Soon."

Scott grins, and heads for the showers. 

Isaac's right, Scott realizes. He does tend to jump into relationships with enthusiasm, and he certainly did that with Allison.

But Allison was - special. More special than any of the other girls Scott has ever called special. Allison was _badass_ , an olympic qualifying archer, but at the same time she was the sweetest girl Scott's ever met. 

Isaac had joked that they were a bit sickening together, and looking back on it Scott can see that he was probably right. Maybe he needs some space from all that. Being in a relationship with Allison had taken a lot of energy, as fun and awesome as it was. 

Scott knows he's looking for that person who completes him. He's pretty sure he puts maybe too much pressure on that, which probably explains why he's almost never the dumper. 

Scott's a serial dater, it's a thing, he likes dating and meeting new people and falling a bit in love with new people. It's part of why he joined Kappa Tau. And yes, Allison is the girl he's dated the longest, the girl he loved the most.

But Scott's not all that sure he trusts his own feelings on the matter.

(His mom called him infatuated with the way he wouldn't shut up about Allison all summer - his mom's always right, so maybe Scott should've paid more attention to the way she said the word.)

He resolves to do as Isaac says - to wait two weeks and then see how he feels about dating someone. Or having sex. He's not sure he can last all that long with only the company of his hand anymore, high school was bad enough.

-

The pizza night goes off without a hitch, though that's mostly because Isaac bugged Scott into helping organize it. Isaac can lose it a bit sometimes, under pressure, and he's basically Scott's best friend so Scott always helps him out, even when he feels like shit. 

It is mostly legacies, though there's one guy, Boyd, who Scott knows from the lacrosse team and isn't a legacy. Isaac invited him, Scott thinks, so he introduces himself. 

Derek's already done the rounds, being the president of the frat, but it's Scott, Isaac, and the rest of the brothers' job now to make them feel as welcome as possible. Last year pledges were few and far between, so they've got to recruit as many as possible this year. 

"I'm Scott," he tells Boyd. "We're on the lacrosse team together."

"Right," Boyd says. "Number 11."

"That's me," Scott grins. "What makes you want to pledge Kappa Tau?"

"Isaac, mostly," Boyd says. Scott tries not to feel offended, and succeeds, mostly. "I always wanted to be in a frat," Boyd says quietly. "It's like - ready made friends."

"Brothers," Scott says. "That's the reason I signed up, too."

"What's the hazing like?" Boyd asks.

Scott shrugs. "They went pretty easy on me, but it's not too bad anyway. I'll keep an eye out for you, if you make it through rush."

"Thanks," Boyd smiles. 

Scott does the circuit, there's a couple legacies who seem interesting. Danny Mahealani's got lacrosse prowess, and is ridiculously smart to boot. Scott makes sure to point him out to Derek, because he's someone they're going to want to keep.

"Feeling better?" Isaac asks, after Scott's finished the last pizza pie. He feels a little over full, but it's also _awesome._

"Much," Scott grins, because he loves this frat. He loves meeting new people, he loves pizza. Hell, right now, he'd even say he loves Derek. 

Derek, after all, paid for the pizza.

"Told you." Isaac says, a little smug. "Soon you'll have forgotten all about Allison."

"You still owe me one evening of 'wingmanship'," Scott reminds him.

"For you, Scott, I'd do anything," Isaac tells him, and Scott laughs.

"You want something from me, don't you?"

"I need you to put up fliers for the rush party," Isaac says. "Please?"

Scott nudges him in the ribs, and Isaac exaggerates his reaction, holding on to them and gasping.

"Scott McCall!" Isaac cries, faux outrage.

Scott tries his best to look innocent, but ruins it by laughing. 

"I'll do it," he says, once he gets control of himself again.

"Thanks, dude," Isaac says, and he looks so genuinely pleased Scott can't help but shove him again. 

-

"Why has Isaac got you sticking his fliers up?" Derek asks, when Scott hands over a dozen to the librarian.

"I'm being helpful," Scott tells him. 

"He's supposed to do it himself, that's what activities chair _means_."

Scott glares at Derek. In spite of the fact that Derek is president of the fraternity, and Isaac's pretty good friends with him, Scott and Derek have never quite seen eye to eye. 

"It's midterms, he delegated," Scott says.

Derek sighs. "If he tries to shove everything off on you," he starts, but Scott shakes his head.

"It's fine, dude. I'm on top of it."

Derek nods, apparently satisfied.

"Your presence will be required at the rush party," Derek says.

"I figured," Scott says. "Will there be beer?"

Derek nods. "Don't do anything stupid," he warns. "We saw enough of your drunken antics last year."

Scott grins, draws himself up to his full height (which is, admittedly, much shorter than Derek). "My drunken antics are hilarious."

"Don't," Derek repeats. 

Scott says his goodbyes to the librarian, and makes no promises.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features the original drabble that started this whole AU, by the way.

Scott and Isaac pregame a lot before the rush party. It's probably a terrible idea, given that they're meant to be giving off an aura of responsible adult, but everyone joins frats for the parties, so Scott doubts they'll damage it much.

Derek makes a huffy noise when he sees them, but he doesn't attempt to discipline them or anything. Scott assumes he's just jealous he didn't think of it first - or that he can't, because he's the president. 

Scott'd like that, some day. To be president of Kappa Tau. 

The main reason they pregame is because they're not technically allowed alcohol during rush. Everybody does it, you just have to be subtle about it, so they don't bring out the kegs until after it's just the people they really want in their frat hanging around. 

So Scott and Isaac (and the rest of the brothers) have to get through two hours of making small talk before they're allowed to actually, y'know, party. 

There're a couple of people who came a little overprepared - there's Jackson Whittemore, who tells Scott all about his modelling in Milan and three years as captain of the lacrosse team in high school - but some people are just there to hang out, and those are the people he'd like to see pledging. He's pretty sure Derek has a different opinion of their ideal pledge, but the frat is about brotherhood, and Scott wants his brothers to be people he enjoys hanging out with, drinking with.

He does wonder, sometimes, why Derek let him in, but he assumes it's his pedigree as captain of his own high school lacrosse team, and the fact that he and Isaac hit it off right away.

Fraternities are a clever balance of finding people who will pay their dues and donate when they're alumni, and finding people you really want to spend time with. As much as Scott hates to admit it, Derek's actually pretty good at finding a balance. The frat house is a nice place to be, after all.

The rush part of the event is starting to die down when Scott bumps into Danny, and they chat a bit, and Danny's pretty convincing too. He and Jackson go way back, apparently, but Danny is much more chilled out about the whole fraternity thing than Jackson was, and Scott promises to pass Danny's name onto Derek. He's promising.

Scott's buzz has more than faded by the time he makes that decision, but thankfully, that's when they bring the keg out and Scott starts drinking.

He's had a long week, so it's a little forgivable when he chugs down his first beer. That's when Isaac appears, with a sharp grin and a muttered "wingman". Scott makes small talk with the friend of the girl Isaac is clearly interested in, and gets both himself and the girl another beer when Isaac heads upstairs. 

She seems nice, if not exactly Scott's type, with endless waves of blonde hair and a predilection for leather. "Tell Derek Erica said hi," she says, when she gets bored of messing with his head. 

Scott frowns after her. He hopes she's not Derek's type, either, because Derek's a senior and his mantra has always been after sophomore year, you don't fuck freshmen. 

He finds the answer after he heads back for another beer, and discovers Derek talking to a brunette.

"Scott," Derek says, "this is my sister, Cora. How many beers have you had?"

Scott shrugs. "Erica says hi," he tells Derek, who frowns. Cora laughs.

"You know she used to have a crush on you," Cora says. 

"She has a boyfriend," Derek says. 

Cora rolls her eyes. "That's not the point I was making."

Derek huffs, and they're so alike it's a little scary, so Scott backs away. 

He finishes beer relatively quickly, and fills another cup before Derek can interrupt, and then he escapes.

Which sounds a little dramatic when all he does is leave the room at a quick trot, without glancing behind him. Sometimes, Derek is terrifying - especially when he's only looking out for your best interests.

He finds himself in the kitchen, and there's only one other person in here, so he feels relatively safe. He can get some semi-fresh air, attempt to sober up a bit. The other person, the guy, in the kitchen, looks remarkably sober. 

"This does not seem like your scene," Scott tells him. He’s well into his third? fourth? drink, and the boy in skinny jeans and a graphic tee is a little blurry.

"No," the boy agrees. He seems pretty steady on his feet - steadier than Scott is, anyway. "I’m here for a friend, he’s thinking about pledging," he says, pointing at a broad dark skinned boy that Scott recognizes from movie night.

"Awesome, man, Boyd is awesome," Scott tells the guy, who smirks.

"I think I’m gonna head out," he says, gesturing vaguely at an open doorway.

"No, no," Scott tells him, because suddenly the guy’s company seems oddly important. He’s skinny, all long fingers and jerky movements, and Scott wants to watch him for hours, maybe days. "Tell me why you aren't pledging," he says, for lack of anything better to say.

"You’re required to say that, right?" The guy says with a raised eyebrow.

"This frat is a brotherhood,” Scott insists. “We’re brothers.”

Derek appears out of nowhere to clap Scott on the shoulder. “Thinking about pledging?” He asks the guy, and Scott resents all of his stubbled face.

"No," the guy says easily. "Just chatting to your friend here."

"Scott," Scott says, realizing he hasn't introduced himself yet.

"I’m Stiles," the guy says. "I don’t drink and I don’t play sports, that’s why I’m not pledging. But I hope you give Boyd a bid." He puts his hands up and takes two steps back, turning to dodge his way out of the door.

Scott stares after him, smitten.

The only word he can think to describe Stiles is lithe. And attractive.

"You’re drunk," Derek says decisively. "Are you having a sexuality crisis?"

Scott nods dumbly.

Derek sighs, sounding put upon as ever. “Go find Isaac,” Derek tells him. “I’ll find Boyd and get Stiles’ number for you.”

Scott's pretty sure Isaac is still busy sexiling him, but he's proven false when he reaches the bottom of the stairs and Isaac is there waiting for him. 

"What happened to-?" Scott makes a vague gesture which he hopes indicates "that girl from earlier" but it's hard to be sure.

"She wasn't as into me as I thought she was," Isaac says easily. "Derek said you needed a talking to."

Scott rolls his eyes, and wrinkles his nose. "I met a boy," he tells Isaac, who smiles.

"Are you talking about one of our pledges?"

"He's not pledging," Scott says. "He was just - he was good, I guess."

"All you can come up with to say about him is he was good?"

Scott's pretty sure Isaac's laughing at him.

"Oh, fuck you," he says. "I'm drunk, or at least on my way there, and tired, and you have no sympathy."

"What was this boy's name?" Isaac says, after schooling his features.

"Stiles," Scott tells him, and it's not his imagination that it comes out a little dreamy. Ick. 

"Did Allison turn you off women completely?"

Scott blinks at him. "Do you think that could be why?"

Isaac pauses. "That was a joke. Why what?"

"Why Stiles is so fucking fascinating," Scott says.

"Ah," Isaac says. "So that's what Derek wanted me to talk to you about. Party's over anyway, let's head up."

Isaac puts him arm over Scott's shoulders as they walk up the stairs.

"Most of us," he says, "play both sides of the field at least a little bit during college. There's nothing wrong with a little experimentation, in casual same sex relationships until you decide what you want."

"I don't want to fuck him," Scott tells Isaac, but he's not actually entirely sure if that's true.

"It's okay if you do, or if you change your mind. It's college. Everyone experiments."

"Did you?"

Isaac shrugs. "I don't kiss and tell," he says.

"That's a lie," Scott tells him.

Isaac grins. 

"Sleep it off," Isaac says. "If you still want to bang him in the morning, then we can talk about it."

"Thanks," Scott says faintly, as they reach their room. He peels off his clothes and slips under the covers, and he's definitely not setting an alarm for tomorrow. 

"Sweet dreams," Isaac says sarcastically, and Scott flips him off, though he doubts Isaac can see it in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay on this, I have been crazy busy.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so ridiculously sorry for the delay on this. University has taken a lot more of my time and energy than previously expected. 
> 
> I'm planning on writing a lot while I have the time in the next week and a half or so before work starts kicking up again, and I'm hoping to build up a buffer. I don't know when the next chapter will be but I promise it'll be a shorter delay than this was!
> 
> This is unbeta'd, and slightly shorter than I'd hoped it'd be, sadly. But I hope you enjoy all the same!

When Scott spots Stiles in the coffee shop on campus two days afterwards, he nearly turns around and walks right out of there. 

It's been a busy few days, a little intentionally, and Scott hasn't really had a chance to think about the freshman who twisted his stomach in knots. Isaac's tried to bring it up more than once, but he knows Scott well enough to take a hint and let it drop, at least for now.

Stiles is wearing a beanie, and gesturing furiously as he bickers with the redhead next to him. Ah, Lydia. Scott dated her for a bit freshman year too, but they both agreed it was a terrible fit and then Lydia introduced him to Allison. Boyd's there too, watching placidly, along with Erica and Cora. A bunch of freshmen, and Lydia. 

Scott sidles up to the counter and pays. If he's too slow about it, Lydia will spot him and draw him into conversation; she's terrifyingly brilliant with both numbers and people (there's a reason they didn't work out) and Scott is sure that she'll know.

At some point Scott is going to have to approach Boyd and let him know that he's got a bid - he doesn't know how well informed Boyd is about what happened at the rush party. He dimly recalls assurances that somebody was going to talk to Boyd, in his position as Friend of Stiles, but nobody has mentioned it since and Scott can only hope that if that happened Boyd hasn't mentioned it to anybody.

Scott is going to put off thinking about the Stiles thing at least until midterms are over. 

"Scott McCall," Lydia's voice floats across the cafe, assertive and delicate all at once. 

Scott turns and smiles at her, approaches the table. He makes sure to glance at his watch, a not very subtle hint that he has places to be (he hasn't - he'd planned to spend two hours in the coffee shop, working his way through the reading for his class this afternoon), and hopes that Lydia buys it. 

Boyd nods at him as he approaches, not wanting to look to eager. Scott remembers the feeling, only a year ago, of wanting to impress but not looking like you're trying to impress.

Although Scott thinks Boyd looks chilled out kind of always. 

"Grab a seat, Scott," Lydia says, sliding up the seat so there's room for him on the end, next to Cora. 

"Hey, I remember you," Erica tells him. "My friend ditched me for your roommate."

"Isaac has that effect," Scott grins. 

Cora rolls her eyes, and the reminder of Derek is so visceral Scott has to look away - and his eyes rest on Stiles, who is just as fascinating as he has always been.

"Scott, right?" Stiles says, and Scott nods. 

"Stiles," he says dumbly, mouth a little dry.

Lydia's watching, he has to remind himself, she knows everything about everyone. 

Scott turns away before everything goes horribly, horribly wrong - before he loses himself in the way Stiles' fingers are tapping on the table, for example - and looks at Boyd. 

"We're going to give you a bid, by the way," Scott offers. "Off the record. But it's definitely happening."

It's a bit early in rush for formal bidding, but all of the frats know who they want by now anyway, so it doesn't really matter if you give an early unofficial bid. Plus, it takes some of the pressure off the freshmen. 

Boyd smiles, wide and genuine, and Scott likes him all the more.

"Congrats, bro," Stiles says, and Scott wants to wrap himself up in that voice. He stops himself from glancing at Stiles before it's too late, then makes as if to stand.

"I've got to do some work at the library," he tells Lydia, "I should get going."

Lydia smiles, but her eyes are looking at him a little too sharply. Scott has the unpleasant feeling that he's under a microscope.

"Sorry about Allison," Lydia says, and Scott shrugs.

"It was good while it lasted," he tells her, and she nods as he stands and picks up his bag.

"Nice seeing you," he says to the table in general. He doesn't let himself pay attention to who responds, just shoves his bag over his shoulder and marches out the coffee shop.

Fuck, he hates working in the library as well.

It's not until he's entered the rotating door to the library and scans his card that he stops to wonder what Lydia and Stiles had been arguing about before he'd joined them. He'd never got an explanation for why Lydia was friends with all of them, either, though he knows Lydia's a year younger than every other sophomore so maybe that's the connection. 

It bugs him as he attempts his reading, and the notes he takes are even messier than usual, which Scott hadn't even thought was possible. The work is slower and harder and Scott's never been this stuck on something before. Something, someone.

Isaac would laugh at him right about now, and tell him he goes through this process every time he meets a new girl, but Scott's by himself so he has to trust himself to put the brakes on. 

For now, at least. 

Maybe he'll call his mom. 

-

Lydia is waiting for him outside his class that afternoon, with folded arms and a raised eyebrow.

They fall into step as Scott heads back to the dorms. He's not sure why Lydia is silent - he hopes she's not waiting for _him_ to say something. 

"So," she says, just as Scott is about to break and blurt out everything bad he's ever done - Lydia has that affect.

"You're into Stiles, now," Lydia finishes, and Scott turns his head to look at her.

"You're terrifying," he tells her honestly.

"That wasn't a denial," Lydia says, but she's smiling tentatively, like she knows this is an area where Scott needs her to tread carefully.

Scott shrugs. "I've only met him twice."

"But you like him," Lydia says.

"I don't know if I like him, Lydia," Scott tells her, exasperated.

"Stiles is gay," she offers. "And he's smart and funny and awesome, and if you fuck around with him I will end you."

Scott blinks. "You weren't this protective over Allison."

"Allison can handle herself," Lydia says. "Stiles gets attached to people. He obsessed over me for about ten years."

"How come you're friends with them, anyway?" Scott asks, because it's been bugging him for far too long. 

"I'm Erica's mentor," Lydia says. "And attached to Erica comes Cora and Boyd, and attached to Boyd comes Stiles."

"Did they all go to the same high school or something?" Scott says, wrinkling his nose. None of his friends from high school go here, as far as he knows, and staying friends with people from home just seems strange to him. Not that he'd had many close friends, anyway.

"Erica, Boyd, and Cora did. Stiles is Boyd's roommate."

"And Cora is Derek's younger sister," Scott muses. 

"Right," Lydia nods. "The president of that ridiculous frat of yours."

"Kappa Tau isn't ridiculous," Scott insists, and Lydia smirks at him.

"Let's talk about your sexuality crisis, and how the homoerotic hazing rituals may have influenced them."

Scott frowns as Lydia links arms with him and tugs him onward, and lets himself be dragged into a debate about hazing rituals and whether or not Lydia should really let Boyd join a frat.

It's like they're her entourage. It's terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm [ladywolvs](http://ladywolvs.tumblr.com) on tumblr.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So I last updated this in November, which you'll have to believe me I'm really, ridiculously sorry about.
> 
> There's a full explanation in the end notes, but for now I hope you'll except this chapter as a peace offering. 
> 
> It's unbeta'd and there's obviously been a long gap, so I'm sorry if it's, um, terrible.

A week after Scott's coffee shop encounter, formal bids are made and pledging begins in earnest. Scott's been looking forward to this for a while - he has a few ideas for pranks to play on the pledges.

They're set basic tasks first - memorize the name, year, and major of every member of the frat, that sort of thing. And then there's a beer pong tourney, with the winner getting to sit out the next round of hazing.

It's intense, and while Scott remembers it as both fun and terrifying last year, it's just fun doing it from this side.

They've got twelve pledges this year, Jackson, Boyd, and Danny among them. Scott only know the names of a few others. He learns, though, that Jackson and Danny went to the same high school as Stiles (and, by extension, Lydia), and that while Jackson refers to Stiles derisively as Stilinski, Danny speaks of him reasonably fondly. 

Knowing his surname also gives Scott the capability for ample Facebook stalking.

Isaac walks in on him twice. Scott feels very thoroughly judged, both times.

The hazing process actually keeps Scott fairly busy, because their pledge captain bailed and Derek decided that Scott needed a job. He's running all the pledge events, organizing the mixers jointly with Isaac, and educating the pledges on their duties. He enjoys it thoroughly, and it keeps his mind off the Stiles problem.

The suddenly-I-might-be-gay problem. 

The pledges spend a lot of time around the Kappa Tau house. Scott mostly sets them duties of cleaning, but occasionally they serve popcorn on movie nights. He can't bring himself to be too mean to them, somehow - he knows in past years, pledges have been forced to do all these things as well as a dozen extra humiliating duties, but he hasn't quite reached that point.

He'll wait for Derek to tell him he's doing it wrong, anyway.

They're about a month into the pledging process when Jackson corners Scott.

"I spoke to Isaac and Derek," he opens with. "And they said it's cool if we have a pledge night so long as I clear it with you."

"What kind of pledge night?"

"We're just gonna watch some movies," Jackson says. "We just thought it might be nice if we got to know each other a little better."

Jackson's an ass-kisser. Scott dislikes him intensely.

"Just the twelve of you?" Scott asks.

"Uh," Jackson says. "Well, we wanted to invite some friends."

Scott rolls his eyes. "If Derek and Isaac said it was cool, whatever," Scott says. "But you don't go home until you've cleaned it up."

Jackson rolls his eyes.

"I mean you specifically," Scott says. "It was your idea."

Jackson makes a put upon sigh and for a moment Scott is convinced he's pouting. 

"I'm not even going to invite anyone!" Jackson says. "It's only because Boyd wants to invite Erica and Stilinski."

Stiles' surname is dripping with contempt when it comes out of Jackson's mouth, but Scott hardly notices.

"I'll supervise," he decides suddenly. 

"If you've got some crush on Erica, I've already tried that," Jackson says. 

"I guess you're not her type," Scott says, slapping Jackson on the shoulder.

He heads upstairs to talk to Isaac, ignoring the outraged cry of "I'm everyone's type!" from Jackson.

"Am I gay?" he asks, throwing himself on the bed.

Isaac swivels in his desk chair. "Are we still on this? It's been like a month."

"Stiles is coming to the house for the pledges' movie night," Scott tells him despondently.

"So get to know him," Isaac says. "Find out if you like him."

"But I like girls!" Scott says.

"Sounds like you like Stiles," Isaac says. He turns in his chair away from Scott, and Scott throws a pen at his head.

"Trying to work, not deal with your sexuality crisis," Isaac tells him.

Scott scowls furiously at his stupid curly hair.

"He doesn't like frat boys," Scott says.

Isaac doesn't turn around. "Haven't you met him, like, once?"

"Twice. The second time was in the coffee shop-"

"With Lydia. I remember."

Scott sighs as Isaac continues to stare at his laptop screen. "You're just jealous I didn't have a sexuality crisis over you," Scott says.

Isaac snorts.

Soon, Scott's laughing too, and Isaac throws a crumpled ball of paper at him. 

"If he's coming to this pledge thing, he can't really hate frat boys," Isaac points out.

Scott sits up. "So I should try and win him over there?"

Isaac shrugs. "Have you thought about just making friends with him?"

"I don't think I can," Scott says. "He's too distracting."

Isaac snorts again.

"You're no help at all," Scott tells the back of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I have endless amounts of apologies for, and a little bit of an explanation. I know last time I posted I promised I was going to build up my buffer and post more often and then that turned out to be a total lie, but I was dealing with some pretty terrible mental health issues for the few months after that which eventually resulted in me failing an exam. I was working on getting better when I got in an accident and spent two months in hospital and then had to drop out of university to recover. So I hope you'll understand why none of that made me really want to write a college AU?
> 
> But, um. Sorry. Again and again and again, I hate abandoning fics so much.
> 
> If you haven't already heard too much about my life, I'm on tumblr at [argentwolvs](http://argentwolvs.tumblr.com).
> 
> I'm going to try and keep updates to once a week, but I'm writing a cordia fic at the same time as this one so I'm not going to commit to anything (learning from my mistakes, see). I promise it will get finished eventually, though!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See! I promised updates wouldn't be so far apart anymore!

Scott considers changing his mind about the pledge movie night about fifteen times.

That's what Isaac tells him, the third time he paces around their room, at least. Scott wasn't counting, but apparently Isaac was.

"Do I need to give you a pep talk?" Isaac says, after he forcibly sits Scott down.

"No," Scott mutters. "I'm fine. I'm just going to watch a movie with a bunch of freshmen."

"One of whom has caused your sexuality crisis," Isaac helpfully points out.

Scott sighs. "I like girls! I've always liked girls, I've never liked boys before."

"Some people only find out they're gay after they marry. It could be worse!"

"You're the least helpful friend," Scott tells Isaac.

Isaac shrugs. "Maybe if you bitched to someone other than me you might get more variety in your advice."

"Derek would not have patience for my sexuality crisis," Scott says.

Isaac snorts. "Yeah, don't bitch to Derek. Why don't you talk to Boyd about it?"

"Boyd is Stiles' friend," Scott points out, putting all the emphasis on Stiles' name. And then he remembers all the other things about Stiles that he's been trying to put out of his mind for days. 

"So you know he's good with people who aren't straight! He lives with someone who's gay, he has to be good about it."

"He'll tell Stiles I like him," Scott says.

Isaac rolls his eyes. "Scott, the whole frat knows you like Stiles. If Boyd hasn't told him already, you're good."

"I don't know if I like Stiles!" Scott exclaims.

"You kind of do," Isaac says.

Scott sighs. 

"I don't even know why I talk to you about this stuff," Scott says.

Isaac shrugs. "Me neither, man. I'd be happier not hearing it."

"You agreed to be my roommate," Scott says. "And I never bitch when you sexile me."

"Fine, fine," Isaac says, raising his hands in defeat. "But you should talk to Boyd. Erica says he's pretty good at talking about all this stuff."

"When did you and Erica become friends?" 

Isaac shrugs. "Stranger things have happened. Like you and Lydia being friends, for example."

"Yeah, but I can't talk to Lydia about this. She'll make fun of me and then critique fraternity culture and talk about homoerotic media."

"Smart girls, man," Isaac says, sounding defeated.

"Smart girls," Scott agrees, but he's thinking about Stiles when he says it.

After their conversation, Isaac must say something to Boyd because he comes to find Scott after the pledges are done with their cleaning duties. (Their living area hasn't looked so good in years. Boyd is a god with a vacuum cleaner.)

"You like Stilinski," Boyd says flatly from the door of Scott's room. Isaac's out somewhere - probably strategically, the dick - so Scott only feels a little embarrassed at the way he startles.

"I'm straight," Scott says, first. Then he realizes that the denial might make it a bit obvious, and runs a hand through his hair to look casual.

From the expression on Boyd's face, it doesn't work.

"Isaac said Stiles gave you a sexuality crisis," Boyd tells him. "And that Isaac's sick of hearing about it."

"Isaac doesn't like listening to other people's problems," Scott says petulantly.

"It's not really a problem he can help with," Boyd points out.

Scott shrugs. "What am I supposed to do? I can't stop thinking about Stiles, but I like girls! I've always liked girls. Girls are a thing that are my favourite."

Boyd frowns. He takes a few steps into Scott's room and closes the door behind him.

"You know you're allowed to like more than one thing, right?" Boyd says. "It's not just straight or gay. There's like bisexual, pansexual, a whole variety of things."

Scott flushes. "I mean, yeah, I knew that," he says hurriedly, "but I've always been straight."

"Late developer," Boyd says simply.

"You suck," Scott tells him.

Boyd smiles. "Yeah, but at least I'm not in love with a weirdo freshman."

"I'm not in love with Stiles! And he's not a weirdo."

"You barely know him," Boyd points out.

Scott shrugs. "He seemed... cool."

Boyd rolls his eyes. 

"What?" Scott demands.

"Sorry," Boyd says. "But why don't you just get on with it and ask him out?"

Scott frowns. "But what if I'm not gay? Isn't it kind of mean to string him along like that?"

"We've already established there's more than just straight or gay, okay?"

Scott looks down. "I just want to have it figured out before I get someone else involved. I don't want anybody to get hurt."

Boyd claps him on the shoulder. "You're a good guy, Scott. Take your time to figure it out."

"How come you know so much about all this shit?" Scott asks.

Boyd shrugs. "My girlfriend is pan, we figured it out together."

"Like, threesomes and shit?" Scott asks, before he can help himself.

Boyd shoves him gently. "Liking more than one gender doesn't mean you have to have sex with more than one gender to know it. You knew you liked girls before you kissed one, right? Me and Erica are exclusive."

"Sorry," Scott says quietly.

"Do some googling," Boyd offers. "And stop telling everyone in the frat about your crush on a freshman. It's a little weird."

"Who am I supposed to talk to about it?" Scott asks.

"Figure it out, and then talk to Stiles about it."

"Lydia said she'll murder me if I hurt him."

Boyd looks at him, face blank. "She's not the only one."

Message received, Scott thinks. Be careful. 

"I'll see you at the movie night," he tells Boyd.

"I'll make sure Stiles saves you a seat," Boyd smirks.

Scott resists the urge to throw a pen at his retreating back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I was going to write the movie night scene this week but then Scott's angst got away with me. But looks like he's a bit closer to figuring out that it's totally okay to like Stiles.
> 
> (for the record, if you feel I'm writing this badly/inappropriately, please let me know! I'm bi, but I figured out I wasn't straight at about the age of ten and so my sexuality crisis was a long time ago and through a very different lens) 
> 
> Thanks for reading! As always, I'm on tumblr at [argentwolvs](http://argentwolvs.tumblr.com)


	6. Chapter 6

Scott has no idea what movie somebody (presumably Jackson) has picked out for the pledge movie night when people start arriving. Freshman don't live at the frat house, it's a sophomore privilege, so they come in dribs and drabs. Some of them still haven't figured out that it's their frat house and they don't have to ring the doorbell. 

Boyd, Stiles, and Erica all arrive together, though Scott doesn't notice until he hears Danny say Stiles' name. He turns around in time to see them hug.

Stiles immediately starts bickering with Jackson and both Danny and Boyd look exasperated by this.

Scott busies himself with setting out cups and putting popcorn in the microwave and absolutely not having feelings about a pledges' roommate.

The microwave dings and Scott has to yell at Jackson four times to get him to put the popcorn out in the living area, and by the time he gets to the living area the sofas look pretty full.

There's an empty seat next to Stiles, Scott notes, and Boyd shoots him a pointed look.

He groans internally and dumps himself in the seat, helping himself to a handful of popcorn so he can't possibly be expected to talk. 

"We can order pizza after the first movie," Danny says, hooking up his laptop to the ridiculously big tv that was new last year. "Anybody have any arguments with A Knight's Tale?"

There's nothing but silence.

Scott wonders why it's so awkward, and then remembers what his pledge class was like the first time they tried to properly socialize. Especially without alcohol. He feels a little sorry for them. 

Danny glances around and hits play on the movie, and Scott settles back in his seat and tries to ignore the warm line of Stiles crammed in beside him.

They really need more sofas in here, Scott thinks. It's not okay that they're squished together like this.

A Knight's Tale is funny and dramatic and has some great action sequences so it's not hard for Scott to get sucked into movie and mostly stop thinking about the guy sat beside him.

His phone vibrates half an hour in, though, and Scott scowls at it as he's distracted.

Isaac Lahey:

1) can you bring me some popcorn 2) if you're gonna fuck stiles i want some warning so i can find somewhere else to crash

Scott scowls. He responds:

Just for that you're not getting any popcorn.

Isaac Lahey:

so you're not getting lucky then?

Scott sends him an angry face and looks up from his phone.

Stiles is looking at him curiously, and Scott can feel himself flushing. He hopes, wishes, prays to every deity that Stiles hasn't seen Isaac's first text.

"You're not supposed to text during a movie as good as this one," Stiles says.

"I've seen it before," Scott says.

Stiles rolls his eyes. "It's still a fucking great movie, dude, you're missing out."

"So are you, right now," Scott points out, and Stiles huffs a quiet laugh. They're sitting so close together that Scott can feel the puff of air as he does so on his cheek.

Stiles shrugs. "I'm doing my civic duty making sure nobody misses out on Heath Ledger's awesomeness."

"Ah, so it's all for the greater good," Scott says.

Stiles grins at him and holds out the bowl of popcorn for Scott to take some more. He turns his eyes back to the tv and Scott takes that as a signal that their conversation is over.

At least they had an actual conversation while Scott is sober and vaguely self aware. This is progress, he's pretty sure, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't thrilled by it. Now Stiles' presence beside him seems to be amplified and Scott can't focus on the movie at all. 

It ends with something exciting happening - Scott's pretty sure Heath Ledger gets knighted (it's been a long time since the last time he saw the movie, okay?) and Stiles beside him cracks his neck and shoulders, throwing his already too long limbs further into Scott's space.

"I gotta go study," Stiles says. Boyd nods.

"Not staying for pizza?" Scott asks.

"Thank fuck," Jackson groans obnoxiously, and Stiles flips him off.

He shakes his head at Scott. "Got a group project due in the morning," he says. "Gotta finish my bit."

"Procrastinate less," Boyd says. Stiles glares.

"I coulda stayed home but you insisted I come to your movie night," Stiles argues good naturedly.

Boyd smiles at him. "You were assigned that work two weeks ago."

"Fuck off," Stiles says, but he's smiling, and it makes Scott feel dumb and warm inside. 

He's got actual legitimate butterflies.

Stiles gives him a nod as he walks out the door and Scott returns it.

He can play it cool.

That's totally a thing he can do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [argentwolvs](http://argentwolvs.tumblr.com).
> 
> I've finally figured out where the plot of this is going so updates should pick up a bit probably from now on, yay! 
> 
> Comments are adored and concrit is always welcome.


	7. Chapter 7

Scott makes a point not to talk to anyone about the Stiles thing for a couple days. He already knows that his friends are a little bit tired of it - he overshares like this when he's met a new girl, too, but this is different, somehow - but also it's a thing about privacy.

He just wants to figure out how he feels in his own head first.

Unfortunately, Lydia, goddess that she is, invites him to lunch, and if there's anyone who will drag Scott out of his own head kicking and screaming, it's Lydia Martin. It's unfortunate, really, that Scott has Lydia in his life. If only he had friends that were easier to push around, and then he could successfully ignore his feelings and his budding sexuality crisis.

He's started identifying it as that, at least. He's willing to admit he's at least a little confused, now. Isaac does seem surprised, too, that Scott isn't talking it out with him anymore. Boyd starts a conversation a couple times but Scott miraculously always has somewhere to be (he's never been so grateful for a meeting with his TA before). They get the hint fairly quickly and Scott moves on to alternately blithely ignoring the problem or compulsively obsessing about it when he's meant to be doing homework. 

Procrastination is a beautiful thing. 

Scott only meets Lydia on the condition that she'll spend the time helping him with his algebra homework and talking him through what he should study before their econ final. Their econ study group, long disbanded, was how he and Lydia originally became friends, and they still occasionally meet up to mainline coffee and study madly. 

"So," Lydia says, sipping at her coffee as Scott takes a large gulp of his hot chocolate. They've already finished his algebra, there's no escape from this. "Stiles," she says.

Scott shrugs. "He's alright." Scott can totally pull of nonchalant, don't listen to what anybody else says.

"Right," Lydia says, smirking at him. 

Scott frowns at her. "Look," he says. "I don't think anything is going to happen there, even if I wanted it to."

"You haven't decided yet?" Lydia says, giving him an assessing look. "You're usually fairly quick when it comes to people you like."

Scott rolls his eyes. "Firstly," he says, "Allison was amazing. And secondly... Stiles is different, I guess."

"Male different, or other different?"

Scott winces. "Both?"

He can see from her face that he's lucky she doesn't hit him.

"It's not that he's a guy," Scott says. "It's more that I don't want if I date him and then decide that I don't like guys, it would hurt him. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You've never wanted to hurt anyone," Lydia says. "It's a little boring."

Scott grins at her. 

"Look," Lydia says. "It's pretty clear to everyone that you like him. Right? Your only worry is that you might later change your mind and not like him anymore. Which is true of all relationships, surely."

Scott swallows. "Stop making sense," he says weakly.

Lydia smiles at him. "Just ask him out," she says. 

Scott shakes his head. "It's not that simple. I don't want to treat him like a test run for me liking guys. That's not fair."

"Okay, granted, the test run thing is an issue. But you wouldn't do that. It's not that you think you might like guys and he's available so you want to try, it's that you think you might like him, which makes you think you might like guys. Get the difference?"

"I guess," Scott says. "But that's not the point anyway. We have nothing in common. He hates the whole fraternity thing, he doesn't drink, or play sports, or anything."

Lydia stares at him. "Firstly, you are not that shallow. Secondly, do you really think he'd be friends with Boyd and go to your dumb movie night if he hated it that much?"

"He's..." Scott pauses. "Intelligent, and interesting."

"You have your moments," Lydia says. "Just talk to him and see what happens. It's not that hard."

Scott rolls his eyes. "Except if he ever comes to the frat house again, every single person there is going to be watching me when I talk to him."

Lydia smirks at him. "Well, with that in mind, I told him to meet me here. I promised I'd help him with some homework."

"Lydia," Scott says, voice low, but he's too late.

He's just seen Stiles walk through the door, eyes scanning the room for Lydia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I nearly started yet another AU instead of writing this but then I thought that this one is pretty important to me so I'd better do it. (I mean, it would've been Scottles anyway, but still.)
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [argentwolvs](http://argentwolvs.tumblr.com) if you want to come say hi or w/e!


	8. Chapter 8

Lydia speaks out of the corner of her mouth as she waves Stiles over.

"I like watching you squirm," she tells him.

Scott puts his head in his hands. "You suck," he tells her, voice muffled by his sweaty palms. 

"You love me," Lydia says confidently, and Scott lifts his head just to roll his eyes at her.

That's when Stiles drops his bag on the floor and takes the spare seat at their table. Scott only realizes he's staring at him when Stiles throws him a quizzical frown, and then he looks back at his work.

What is he here for? Right, econ and math. And Lydia making fun of him, apparently. 

"You're flunking freshman classes too?" Stiles asks him coolly, when he sees Scott's notes with Lydia's careful corrections beside them.

Scott snorts. "No, sophomore ones. But I would've flunked freshman classes if it weren't for Lydia."

"Damn right," Lydia says. "But Stiles isn't in any danger of flunking."

Stiles shrugs. "I fucking hate Finstock."

Scott groans at the sound of his name. "Finstock is the worst."

Stiles glances at him, a smile flitting across his face, before he turns back to Lydia.

"Scott's mostly here for algebra," Lydia says. 

"Because you're a math genius," Scott says.

Lydia smirks at him. "Don't pout, it's unattractive."

Scott rolls his eyes at her again, and then tugs his econ textbooks out of his bag. He's not here for Lydia to play with and this whole situation is a little humiliating.

He wishes he could just move on from this stupid Stiles... thing. At least then he wouldn't be the butt of every joke with all his friends.

Stiles and Lydia are talking intently about some economic concepts that Scott's pretty sure never came up in his freshman econ classes, but he's happy to frown furiously at the diagrams he's sure he's supposed to be doing something with.

He fucking hates econ.

Lydia takes pity on him eventually and tugs the worksheet over to draw some arrows or something on it. Stiles is looking at him curiously as she does so, so Scott half smiles at him, half shrugs.

It's a gesture that he has no idea what it's meant to say. 

"I can't believe you double booked our study date," Stiles says eventually.

Lydia snorts. "I'm trying to socialize you. It's a joint attempt between me and all of your friends."

"I knew Boyd's invite to movie night was suspicious," Stiles says.

Scott chokes on the sip of his hot chocolate he was taking. When he looks up, Lydia is arching one perfectly plucked eyebrow at him, and Scott suddenly feels the urge to stare intently at the table. He can feel a flush appearing on his cheeks anyway, but he hopes he can pass it off as him having just choked on a hot liquid. 

"I'm going to grab a refill," Lydia says suddenly, holding up her coffee mug.

Scott scowls at her, and she grins at him. 

Stiles is silent, doodling on his worksheet, but only for a few seconds.

"Do you hate me, or something?" Stiles asks.

"What?" Scott says, eyes wide. "I don't hate you."

Stiles shrugs with one shoulder. "You just always act kind of weird, I guess," Stiles says. "I know I was rude to you at that pledge thing but it really wasn't my scene or anything."

"I didn't take it personally," Scott says. "I was drunk."

"Yeah," Stiles says. His face does something Scott can't interpret, but then there's a lot about Stiles that Scott can't interpret. 

"The movie night was fun," Scott offers. "Shame you had to leave early."

Stiles tilts his head to one side. "Jackson's an asshole," he says. "I was only there because Boyd made me."

Scott swallows. "You really hate the frat stuff, huh?"

Stiles shakes his head. "That's not it, I guess. He said you would be there, put kinda a lot of emphasis on that."

Scott's definitely blushing now. He thought Boyd would've played it cool. Boyd is definitely getting toilet cleaning duty.

"And you think I hate you?" Scott says. He's just throwing words out, really, brain barely functioning but wanting to keep the conversation going.

Stiles shrugs. "I guess maybe I thought you were all hung up on me wanting to join your frat, or something."

"No," Scott says quickly. "Not at all, I wouldn't want you in the frat."

"Uh?" Stiles says. "Seriously?"

"You just said it wasn't your scene," Scott says.

"You're an asshole," Stiles says. "Tell Lydia I'll text her about Finstock."

Stiles picks up his bag and throws it over his shoulder. The chair squeals as he pushes it back and strides away.

Scott's an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the delay and that this kind of isn't very good! I hit a bit of a rut (not just with this one, kind of with everything. That'll teach me to write more than one fic at once) but hopefully things will pick up soon.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> As always, I'm on tumblr at [argentwolvs](http://argentwolvs.tumblr.com)


	9. Chapter 9

"You're an idiot," Isaac tells him, when Scott mentions what happened. He likes to think it was an offhanded mention, like it didn't bug him that much, just a footnote in his day, but the look on Isaac's face tell him he's deluding himself.

"I like Stiles for who he is!" Scott cries. "If he was one of my brothers, it'd be weird!"

"You know it isn't incest if it's fraternity brothers, right?" Isaac says.

Scott rolls his eyes. "That wasn't what I meant."

Isaac claps him on the shoulder, and then walks past him to collapse on his bed.

"Scott," he starts. "You like him, right?"

"Yeah," Scott says. He shrugs, trying to make it no big thing. "I want to date him."

"Please put a sock on the door when necessary, I don't want to see either of your bare asses."

"It's never going to be necessary," Scott says, morose. "He thinks I'm an asshole."

"So explain," Isaac says. "You're a good guy, Scott. It's not hard."

"Even if I apologized, why would he want to date me?" Scott asks. 

"You're attractive," Isaac says. 

Scott glares at him.

"Fine," Isaac says. "He might not want to date you."

"Thank you," Scott says. 

"Anytime," Isaac says, throwing him a confused look. 

The time for Scott to make a good impression has passed, Scott thinks. If he was going to win Stiles over, it would have been earlier that day, just as Lydia had planned. But Scott's always been slow to figure things about his feelings out - he either rushes in headfirst thinking everything means more than it does, or acts with trepidation when he really should be showing how he feels - and he couldn't be expected to act that close to figuring out how much he really liked Stiles. How much he was willing to take the risk on him.

"You're thinking too much," Isaac says, throwing a pillow at his head.

"Fuck off," Scott tells him, voice muffled by the pillow.

"Sort your shit out," Isaac says. "You like Stiles, so make it up to him and tell him you like him."

Scott throws the pillow back. So much of their relationship involves throwing things at each other. 

"You're not weirded out?"

"That you like boys, or that you like Stiles?" Isaac asks. "Because honestly, I really thought you had better taste."

Scott sticks his tongue out petulantly, and Isaac smiles easily back at him.

"So you're bisexual or whatever," Isaac says. "Just so long as you're still my wingman, I don't care."

"I'm the shittest wingman," Scott points out.

"Well, yeah," Isaac says. "But at least you try. Derek just scowls a lot."

Scott laughs, and feels a warmth blossom in his stomach.

He might have fucked up with Stiles, but he still has amazing brothers who have his back. No matter what.

"How do I fix it with Stiles?" Scott asks. 

"Explain," Isaac says. "Tell him the whole frat knows that he caused your sexuality crisis."

Scott's eyes widen. "That sounds terrifying."

"It's true," Isaac grins.

Scott huffs. "You're actually a massive gossip, aren't you?"

"I'm only friends with you so I can share your drama with everyone else," Isaac tells him. 

"Well," Scott says. "What should I be telling people about you, then?" 

Isaac sits up, abruptly. "If you tell anyone about-"

Scott cuts him off with a wave of his hand and a sharp grin. "Which thing are you thinking of? The love poems? The fact that you're incapable of clearing your browser history?"

Isaac flushes bright. Scott's enjoying this entirely too much. 

"You wouldn't," Isaac says, but it sounds weak.

"Tell me what to do about Stiles," Scott demands.

Isaac nods. "Will he come to a party here or are you going to have to go looking for him?"

"He's Boyd's roommate," Scott says. "I'll go to him."

"Right," Isaac says.

He looks amused. Scott doesn't comment. Or hit him, as much as he wants to.

"So I'll go, and I'll apologize, and..." Scott trails off.

Isaac shrugs. "And tell him how much you like him, and it confused you because you've only ever liked girls before, and that's why you acted like an idiot."

Scott nods. "And ask him on a date?"

Isaac shakes his head. "You'll give him whiplash. Give him time. Have you thought about actually getting to know him?"

Scott bites his lip. "You think if I apologize and tell him he should come to the next party, he would?"

"Worth a try."

Scott nods.

He's got a plan.

He's going to _try._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and update once a week now, so next update will (fingers crossed) be next Thursday. This hopefully means that I can build up a buffer and stop letting you guys down with delays and stuff.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

It takes a lot of bullying from Isaac to actually get Scott out of the door to go to Stiles' dorm room. Isaac must have texted Boyd to let him know Scott's coming because Boyd opens the door to the building for him when he gets there, and then leaves.

So Scott can talk to Stiles.

Shit, his whole frat really is talking about this.

He knocks on the door and Stiles open it and looks... surprised, to see Scott. He doesn't stand aside to let him in.

"Hi," Scott says uncertainly.

"Are you looking for Boyd?" Stiles asks. "He just left. Said something very vague, so he was probably going to hook up with Erica."

"I'm looking for you," Scott says.

Stiles blinks at him.

"Sorry about yesterday?" Scott says, sounding uncertain.

Stiles shrugs. "It's no biggie. I know I'm not frat material."

"You said you didn't want to be in a frat," Scott says. "I didn't want to pressure you or anything."

Stiles snorts. "Dude. I wasn't feeling pressured."

"You thought Boyd set us up so I could get you to join the frat," Scott points out.

"Boyd said I should talk to you. It was weird, is all I'm saying."

"Yeah," Scott says. "I kind of like you," he says quietly.

Stiles blinks at him.

"Huh," he says, a smile spreading slowly across his face. "You like me."

"Yup," Scott says.

He's decided to stare intently at his feet. His socks don't match, and his jeans are probably due a wash, he notices. That's definitely why he's looking at them, and not because he can feel a flush rising on his neck.

"That's why you were an asshole?" Stiles asks. He sounds incredulous and Scott risks a glance up to his face to confirm that that is, indeed, true. "Were you the kind of kid who pushed over people they liked?"

"No!" Scott says. "That's a shitty thing to do."

"Huh," Stiles says, contemplatively. "So you're actually a half decent dude."

Scott raises his eyebrows. "I have barely hazed the pledges at all," he says.

Stiles snort. "That's setting a fairly low bar, but okay."

"I didn't want you to be in the frat because I like you for you," Scott says. "I'm sorry it came out like you weren't good enough."

"You're okay," Stiles decides, apparently. "You wanna play video games?"

Scott smiles. "What've you got?"

They wind up playing Team Fortress 2, sat far enough apart on the sofa that Scott's arm only brushes against Stiles' when they get really enthusiastic. It's dangerous, Scott thinks, being alone in a room with someone he finds so magnetizing, but he has no idea how Stiles feels about him other than tentative friendship.

They don't talk about it any longer, at least, just trash talk each other as Scott's Engie takes out Stiles' Spy in the game but Red team still wins while Scott's blue is defeated. Scott hasn't played the game in ages, is his excuse. Plus he's borrowing a laptop, so it's hardly his fault.

They play four rounds and then finish up, and Stiles stretches and the bottom of his shirt rides up and Scott stares.

He can't help it. That sliver of skin on show is something else.

Stiles coughs politely and Scott knows he's been caught. He finds himself flushing yet again in Stiles' presence, who's smirking at him.

"Are you going to come to the party next week?" Scott asks. He wants so badly for Stiles to be there, but he knows it's a long shot.

Stiles shrugs. "If I don't have too much work."

Scott frowns. "What are you even majoring in? You're always working."

"Been paying attention, have you?" Stiles says.

Scott thinks this might be flirting, but he has no idea how to do it.

He backtracks, instead. "Apparently you make Boyd feel bad about how much work he does."

Stiles just raises his eyebrows.

"And maybe I listen when your name comes up in conversation," Scott admits.

Stiles grins at him. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Scott glares at him and Stiles just continues to grin back at him.

"I'm majoring in Engineering with a minor in Poli Sci," Stiles says. "I couldn't pick."

"No wonder you're always working," Scott says, eyes wide.

Stiles shrugs. "Keeps me out of trouble."

"Have you even seen trouble?" Scott asks, grinning.

"Danny could tell you a few stories," Stiles says. He smirks, and then adds: "If you were listening hard when my name came up."

"You suck," Scott tells him.

"You like me," Stiles says.

"Nobody can figure out why," Scott returns.

Stiles smiles at him, but it's more tentative this time. "I'll come to your dumb frat party."

Scott manfully resists the urge to punch the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOOK. CONFESSIONS. OH MY GOD.
> 
> I'm not sure how well I did this? But I didn't want it to be all in because they don't actually know each other that well at this point, and stuff. But yeah.
> 
> Another chapter next Thursday, and then maybe... two or three after that? I'm not actually sure how long this is gonna be. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

The lacrosse team has a match the following week, so the time between inviting Stiles and the actual party seems to go by incredibly quickly. Scott's busy with practice and schoolwork and so he manages not to think about it too much, in spite of Lydia and Isaac bugging him. Derek even sounds like he's going to bring it up a few times, but Scott has learnt that it's best to just leave the room when Derek wants to talk.

He pitches in for set up of the party, mostly instructing the pledges although after this evening they won't be pledges anymore, they'll be full brothers. Scott's a little excited.

The pledges are too, Scott thinks, and he's pleased for them. He remembers what it was like last year, when it was his turn. He's kind of sad that he hasn't stayed friends with most of his pledge brothers, but that's in no small part because he got on so well with Isaac straight away.

People start arriving soon enough, and the music is loud and the beer is flowing and Scott may have had one or two cups. Derek is keeping an eye on him, reminding him he has to stay relatively sober as pledge coordinator.

It's kind of weird to think that it's Scott's last night in that role.

Stiles arrives just as Jackson's doing a keg stand. Nobody has asked him to or dared him to, it seems like he just wants to show off. Jackson's the only one Scott really wishes he had hazed, but Derek had said he wasn't allowed to pick and choose who got the harsher treatment.

"Hey," Scott says. It's too quiet over the loud music, and Stiles throws him a quizzical look.

"I'm going to find Boyd," Stiles yells at him, and Scott nods vaguely after him.

He invited Stiles here, but he doesn't really know what to do now that Stiles is actually here, in front of him. They've already hung out a bit, Stiles already knows Scott likes him. The ball is kind of in Stiles' court, now.

But Scott still itches to be around him. He can't explain it, Stiles is just fucking magnetic.

Scott winds up playing wingman to Isaac (again) but to be fair, he kind of owes him this one. Isaac's put up with a lot of whining from Scott lately.

Soon enough, Isaac's disappeared to find a dark corner with a short brunette, and then Scott bumps into Erica.

"You're Scott McCall, right?" she says.

She's terrifyingly menacing, and Scott can't see Boyd anywhere to come rescue him.

"You're a frat brother?" She asks.

"Yeah," Scott says. "You're Boyd's girlfriend, right?"

"Yep," she says. Her lipstick is deep red, and her top tight and black.

He can see what Boyd sees in her, but Scott's mostly scared.

"Nice to meet you?" he says. "You came to the movie night, right?"

"Yeah," Erica says, her demeanor softening a bit. "I heard about you and Stiles?"

"About me and Stiles?" Scott asks. His voice might squeak a bit. Whatever.

"You've got a big gay crush on him," Erica says. She sounds gleeful.

Scott coughs, flushing. "Is there anyone on this campus who doesn't know?"

Erica grins at him. "Doubt it. Except for Stiles, apparently, until a few days ago."

"He talked to you about that?" Scott asks. He's nervous, he can't help it.

"Yeah," Erica says. Her smile seems a little less shark like now. Scott can't tell if that's good or bad. "He might have mentioned it."

Scott waits. He has no idea what to say.

Erica seems incredibly amused by this, but she cuts him some slack eventually.

"He doesn't think you're an asshole," Erica pauses. "Not anymore, at least."

Scott sighs in relief.

"But," Erica says, and Scott flinches reflexively. "He's pretty confused by the whole thing, and if you hurt him, there is a queue of people ready to gut you."

"You guys are incredibly protective," Scott says, raising an eyebrow.

"We'd do the same for anyone. Except Lydia," she says. "She can handle herself."

Scott snorts. "Yeah, I can see that."

"I'm serious, though," she tells him. "You've already been a dick to him. You do not do that again."

"I wouldn't," Scott tells her. "I really like him. I have since I first saw him. I screwed up because I haven't liked anyone that much in a really long time."

Erica assesses him, and she seems pleased with what she sees, but Scott's spotted something far more horrifying.

Stiles is listening to their conversation. He clears his throat, flushing, and Erica looks surprised to see him too, so Scott's at least a little grateful that this isn't some kind of weird set up, but it's still bad.

"I'm going to call it a night," Stiles says. His cheeks are a warm pink but Scott's sure they've got nothing on the flaming red of his. "Thanks for inviting me."

He can't seem to look Scott in the eye, and something clenches deep in Scott's gut.

As he turns and walks away, Erica whistles lowly. "You've got it bad," she says. "I wouldn't go after him."

"He's going to think I'm a stalker," Scott says.

Erica winces. "Maybe a little bit?" she says. "I'm sure you two will figure it out."

Scott's not really listening to her anymore, his head in his hands. A warm hand settles on his back and he only knows it's Derek because Erica sounds absolutely delighted to see him.

"What did you do, Reyes?" Derek asks.

"It's the whole Stiles thing," Erica says, and Derek groans.

Great. As if this wasn't humiliating enough.

"Please go and rescue my sister from Jackson," Derek tells her, and when Scott takes his hands away from his face Erica's gone.

"I'm fine," Scott says. "Just embarrassed. No worries."

Derek frowns at him. "Fine. You have a job to do, remember? And don't drink yourself into a coma."

"I'm fine," Scott repeats. 

Derek takes his cup of beer away from him anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, Scott really can't catch a break. Poor guy.
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [argentwolvs](http://argentwolvs.tumblr.com). 
> 
> Comments are welcome and loved and treasured. Thanks for reading.


	12. Chapter 12

Scott's thoroughly humiliated himself and he knows enough not to go and talk to Stiles about it. He doesn't think he's going to make it better. He doesn't know how to make it better.

It's been obvious to Scott from the start that he likes Stiles a lot more than Stiles likes him, but maybe Stiles didn't realize quite how much that was true.

He doesn't want to talk to anyone about it, either, so he keeps to himself until the lacrosse match a few days later.

The adrenaline from the match takes over a bit and there's lots of yelling and sprinting and it's good for Scott, he thinks. He's enjoying this. They win, by a decent margin, but his good mood is crushed when Boyd mentions as they walk back to the changing rooms that Stiles said he'd come and watch.

He takes a while in the shower and changes slowly, and by the time he's dressed the locker room is completely empty.

And then Stiles bursts through the door. Of course.

"I was going to wait until you came out," Stiles says, "but you were taking ages."

"Hi, Stiles," Scott says cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

Stiles screws up his face. "I came to apologize?"

"Huh?"

"For, um, y'know..." Stiles trails off.

"I get why you left," Scott says. "I sounded like a stalker."

"You didn't," Stiles says. "I just had no idea how much you liked me."

"Yeah," Scott says. "That's a... thing."

"I've never had a boyfriend before," Stiles says in a rush. "I didn't figure out I was gay for most of high school, and then by the time I did everybody already thought I was a weirdo."

"Lydia said something about you and Danny," Scott says.

Stiles' eyes widen and his cheeks go pink. "He showed me the ropes. We bumped into each other at a gay club more than once."

Scott raises his eyebrows.

"That's not the point," Stiles says quickly. "The point is, that you're hot and you seem nice and Danny says you're good people and Boyd agrees."

Stiles pauses.

"Boyd never thinks people are good people," he tells Scott.

"He's hard to please," Scott says. He doesn't know what the point of this conversation is. He hasn't figured it out yet.

"Look," Stiles says. "I don't know you that well, but I think I like you. I just don't want to rush into this."

Scott nods.

"I've never had a boyfriend either?" He offers. He doesn't know what to say. Stiles already knows how Scott feels about him. He doesn't know how to navigate this mess that's in front of him.

Stiles smiles. "Would you like to go on a date with me, Scott McCall?"

Scott can feel a grin spreading across his own face. "Yeah, I would."

"Boyd gave me your number," Stiles says.

Scott rolls his eyes. "My whole frat loves interfering in my love life."

Stiles raises an eyebrow. "Really." He says.

"Yeah," Scott says. He's a little embarrassed to have brought it up now. "Mostly because I've spent a little too much time talking about how you're never going to like me."

"Did you think I was out of your league?" Stiles asks. He looks delighted.

"I thought you would never date someone in a fraternity. You seemed to hate the whole idea that first night."

"You were plastered," Stiles says. He snorts. "If I'd known you were trying to get me to stay because you were into me I probably wouldn't have been nearly so harsh."

"Only a little bit harsh?" Scott says.

Stiles shrugs. "It was still a fraternity party."

Scott laughs.

"But really," Stiles says, "I'm not going to hold it against you. Even though you let Jackson in."

"Ugh, Jackson," Scott says.

"You hate him too!" Stiles says. He sounds delighted.

"We only let him in because we wanted Danny," Scott admits.

He's not supposed to tell anyone that, but he wants to tell Stiles. He wants to get on his good side, make him smile like he is right now.

"That sounds like my entire high school. Everyone only put up with Jackson because of Danny."

"I can't believe you guys all went to the same place," Scott says.

Stiles shrugs. "If I'd known Jackson was going here, I probably would have gone elsewhere."

Scott smiles. "That bad, huh?"

Stiles shakes his head. "Worse."

"Lucky for me you didn't know then," Scott says quietly.

Stiles glances up. "Yeah," he says eventually. "Lucky for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news! Updates from this point onwards will be Mondays AND Thursdays, because we're fairly close to the end now! Only two more chapters, and one of those is an epilogue.
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


	13. Chapter 13

Scott and Stiles agree, eventually, after much texting back and forth, to get coffee. This time, without Lydia's supervision or interference or whatever the hell Lydia was trying to do last time around.

Isaac tells Scott he's very proud of him, and Scott throws things at Isaac. It's becoming a theme. Eventually, Isaac picks out Scott's shirt and explains to him that it's a coffee date and he needs to stop fucking worrying.

It takes a while for the message to sink in, but it gets there about five minutes after Stiles sits down opposite Scott at the table. Scott's not even drinking coffee, he's got a hot chocolate in the mug in front of him, but the point still stands.

This whole thing is not a big deal. It's just like their video gaming session but with more flirting and less aggression.

"So why did you join the frat?" Stiles asks, after a long pause.

Scott shrugs. "I wanted that kind of friendship. Set in stone, sort of thing."

"Huh," Stiles says. "So not because you wanted to drink a lot and hook up with girls?"

"I mean, that was a part of it," Scott says, grinning.

Stiles reaches over and flicks his nose.

"Dick," Stiles says. "So you're bi, right?"

Scott shrugs. "Probably? I don't know."

Stiles makes a contemplative noise that Scott doesn't know how to interpret, so he just doesn't respond. It's not the greatest conversational tactic, he's aware, but it'll make do for now.

"You should join the LGBT group," Stiles says. "I'm pretty sure some of us even meet up for drinks," he finishes, offering a half smile and a raised shoulder.

"Maybe," Scott says. "I'm pretty new to the whole thing, Boyd had to talk me through it."

Stiles raises his eyebrows. "Pretty new?"

"Yeah," Scott says, blushing. "You inspired my sexuality crisis. Congrats."

Stiles' eyes widen. "Holy shit," he says.

"That was my reaction, too," Scott says, grinning.

"Ryan Gosling inspires sexuality crises," Stiles says, "definitely not me."

"All you," Scott says. "Promise."

"So when you told Erica that you liked me since the first time you saw me..." Stiles says.

Scott glances down. "I may have been a dick because I was freaking out over the fact that I wasn't exclusively into girls."

"Just so we're clear," Stiles says, "this is definitely a date."

Scott smiles. "Yeah," he agrees pleasantly.

"So your whole frat knows that I'm the reason you like men?"

Scott winces. "It's really awful when you phrase it like that."

"I mean, yeah," Stiles says. "I have to make an amazing first impression so I don't send you back to women forever."

Scott rolls his eyes. "I like you way more than that."

Stiles grins. "I don't think I'm going to get tired of hearing that."

"You want me to tell you you're Ryan Gosling, too?" Scott says.

Stiles pretends to think about it for a while, and Scott sips at his hot chocolate while he waits.

"Nah, I'm good," Stiles says. "So what, you saw me, and were like, bam, worldview realigned?"

"I wanted to... know you, or something," Scott admits, uneasily. Stiles looks genuinely interested though, so he forges on. "I'd just broken up with Allison, and I didn't really get that you didn't have to be gay or straight, and I freaked out a bit."

"Yeah, people can be assholes about bisexuality and all that stuff," Stiles agrees. He looks like he's waiting for Scott to say more, though, so he keeps talking.

"Boyd talked me through it," Scott says. "But I was kind of worried that if I asked you out before I'd figured out how I felt it would be a total dick move."

Stiles considers it. "You knew you liked me, right?"

Scott nods, bites his lip.

"Even if you hadn't figured out how that fit in with your sexuality or whatever, it would've been okay."

"You're not the first person to tell me that," Scott says.

"I'm pretty sure you've managed to surround yourself with people who know more about sexuality than you," Stiles grins. "Between me, Lydia, Boyd, and Danny, you've got no problem doing some learning."

"Danny helped you figure some things out," Scott counters, and to his surprise, Stiles blushes.

Stiles shrugs, attempting to play it off. "He was a useful guy to know, back in high school."

"Useful, I bet," Scott grins.

Stiles rolls his eyes. "Okay, so Danny is my Ryan Gosling. Whatever."

"You're not my Ryan Gosling," Scott says.

"Nope," Stiles says. "No take backs. I'm your Ryan Gosling."

"You're an asshole," Scott grumbles.

Stiles grins at him. "An asshole who you like," he says.

Scott doesn't have an answer for that, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI. PENULTIMATE CHAPTER. WOW.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	14. Chapter 14

On their second date, Scott kisses Stiles for the first time. It's good. He approves.

It's not until the fourth date that it goes any further than that, that they wind up making out on Stiles' bed and Stiles takes Scott in his mouth.

Scott reciprocates on the fifth date. They spend the whole night together afterwards.

Scott finally gets to sexile Isaac.

Somewhere around the seventh date, Stiles introduces Scott to a friend as his boyfriend, then flushes and glances sidelong at Scott like he'll take issue with it. Scott puts his arm around his waist and tries to remember the name of the person he's just been introduced to. They update their relationship on facebook later that evening.

Scott has long since lost track of how many dates they've been on by the time Stiles asks him to move in together. They look at leases for the start of Scott's senior year, Stiles' junior, and end up sharing an apartment with Boyd and Erica. Scott misses living in the frat house, but he doesn't think he'd have stayed sane there in his senior year anyway.

When Scott decides he'll propose to Stiles after Stiles graduates, he goes to Isaac for help. Isaac laughs at him, and directs him to Derek. They somehow come up with a vaguely heartfelt way to propose which Scott is eventually convinced Stiles will love. Scott doesn't go to Lydia, because Lydia will laugh at him and then tell Stiles, which is far worse than just being laughed at. Scott has a hard enough time keeping secrets anyway.

Scott waits until their fourth anniversary to propose, even though he buys the ring a few months before and then lives in constant fear that Stiles will find it. He doesn't make anything sophisticated for dinner, just Stiles' favorite, and he gets down on one knee in their crappy apartment that they rented when Stiles graduated. It's just the two of them that live there, and there are candles on the table, and he has this whole speech planned out that dies in his throat when Stiles just looks at the ring and tells him yes, a grin spreading across his face.

"I had a whole speech," Scott tells him, still on one knee.

"Go ahead," Stiles says, "make the speech. I just wanted to take the pressure off."

Scott doesn't bother, he just stands up so he can properly kiss Stiles.

"There was going to be a joke about Ryan Gosling in it," Scott grumbles, after some thoroughly satisfying celebratory sex.

Stiles kisses him on the nose. "I love your jokes," Stiles says. "You can tell it now, if you want."

Scott does.

He thinks it's better because he gets to tell it while holding Stiles.

On their wedding day, it rains. It pours. Scott gets soaked and his hair looks a mess and nothing is how he imagines it, but he still gets to look into Stiles' eyes and say "I do" so he's pretty happy.

Those two words are all he needs.

Isaac's his best man, a decision Scott regrets thoroughly when Isaac stands up to make his speech.

"I'd like to say I was instrumental in Scott and Stiles getting together," is how it starts.

It gets worse from there.

"Mostly because I put up with Scott complaining at me about how he liked a guy for months on end. It was a hardship and he still owes me for that."

Scott shuts his eyes.

"Stiles Stilinski was a freshman and he didn't want to be in our fraternity," Isaac tells the guests. "He and Stiles only met because Boyd - everyone knows Boyd, right? - was pledging that year, and Stiles was Boyd's roommate. Scott was very drunk and extremely into Stiles that first night, even if it took him a lot longer to admit it."

Isaac pauses to glance sidelong at Scott.

"He's thinking about throwing something at me right now," he says with a grin, "which is something he used to do a lot then, too."

Scott buries his head in his hands.

"See we were roommates," Isaac says. "I put up with a lot from Scott McCall, over the years. Mostly that year, and the Stiles crisis, but other years too."

"Why did I pick you as best man?" Scott asks.

Isaac raises his eyebrows. "I honestly don't know," he says, but then he continues with his speech. "Scott was head over heels for Stiles right from the word go, and some of us - and by that I mean the whole fraternity - saw this day coming back in Scott's sophomore year. I think Derek won the pool, in the end."

Scott knew Derek had an ulterior motive when he was suggesting dates.

"From the beginning, Stiles fascinated Scott, and while I'm glad that hasn't changed, I'm even more glad I'm not the one who has to hear about it anymore."

Isaac pauses, and raises his glass. "To my brother, Scott McCall-Stilinski, and his husband, Stiles!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah. Shit. We finished.
> 
> More than a year after I started, which is a little embarrassing, but my silly little frat AU finally got an ending. 
> 
> Thank you everyone for sticking with me even after I abandoned it for 9 months because my life fell apart, and thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the ride.
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [argentwolvs](http://argentwolvs.tumblr.com) and I would love to hear what you thought.


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